When the vast Time-Warner Center at Columbus Circle was looking for tenants, many restaurateurs expressed doubts that people would want to traipse up and down escalators, past clothing boutiques and eyeglass shops, to dine there. By attracting Thomas Keller to open Per Se and Masa Takayama to open Masa, fears that the premises would be occupied by chain restaurants owned by Midwestern corporations eased, and a number of upscale restaurateurs took a chance. Not all succeeded: Jean-Georges Vongerichten, whose Jean-Georges flagship was across the street in the Trump building, signed to do a steakhouse at Time-Warner that looked designed by the Addams Family. It didn’t last long.